This article was first published in Meetings Magazine in December 2025.
In many European cities, convention centres have long been conceived as civic symbols — expensive, socially valuable public assets rather than profit centres. But as fiscal pressures rise and public budgets tighten, a compelling new paradigm is emerging: privately led, mixed-use, strategically integrated event infrastructure that not only hosts meetings but actively reinvents city districts.
Recent discussions with Kristina Milinčić of Sava Centar (Belgrade) and Roberto Morelli of Generali Convention Centre (Trieste) — both representing new-generation venues developed through private investment — have shed light on how the events industry is becoming a catalyst for urban transformation rather than merely a user of city space. Their examples emphasise a new model: private capital is entering the convention infrastructure space — and reshaping entire urban landscapes in the process. Their experiences illustrate a broader shift: can private capital meaningfully enter the convention infrastructure arena — and should it?
The Private Sector Takes the Helm: Belgrade’s Sava Centar Reimagined
Belgrade’s story is striking. Sava Centar — 100,000 m² in total, originally built in the late 1970s — has long stood as a landmark of the city’s architectural golden age.
In 2020, Delta Holding acquired Sava Centar, declaring its intent to revive it not merely as a conference or cultural venue, but as the nucleus of a new mixed-use district. Over the next three years, the building underwent a complete reconstruction, with the total investment growing to €118–120 million. The renovated Blue Hall alone, seating 4,050, absorbed roughly a third of this cost. The technical retrofit was ambitious — energy consumption was halved, green areas expanded by 30%, and the venue aligned with international sustainability certification standards. In addition to the Blue Hall, the refurbished Sava Centar now offers a total of 46 meeting rooms accommodating between 50 and 1,500 participants in flexible, dividable zones — allowing multiple events and a wide range of gatherings to run simultaneously.
More significant than the engineering, however, is the strategic vision. Sava Centar is now embedded at the heart of Delta District, a forthcoming mixed-use development in New Belgrade that integrates residential towers, premium offices, retail, and an upcoming InterContinental Hotel set to open in 2027. The centre is directly connected to the Crowne Plaza Belgrade, offering 416 rooms and 14 additional meeting rooms, while the existing Hyatt Regency and the future InterContinental frame the district as a complete “conference quarter.” Together, these properties create a cohesive hospitality and events ecosystem. Strategically, this triangle — between Delta District, the Danube Waterfront development project with the future Ritz-Carlton, and the West 65 zone with the newest AC by Marriott — defines the spine of New Belgrade’s business district. Across the Sava River, in the Old City, the Belgrade Waterfront project mirrors this transformation, with the high-end Saint Regis and Bristol hotels recently opened, and the Radisson Collection Old Mill — another Delta Holding property — showcasing the adaptive reuse of industrial heritage.
This private-sector momentum aligns with Serbia’s preparations for Expo 2027, to be held in Belgrade under the theme “Play for Humanity: Sport and Music for All.” The Expo site, currently under development near Nikola Tesla Airport, will host over 120 countries and an estimated four million visitors. After the Expo, the Belgrade Fair will be relocated to this new site — making Expo 2027 both a global stage and an urban legacy project. Meanwhile, the former fairground area in central Belgrade is planned for redevelopment as an extension of the Waterfront, with the city’s iconic Hall 1 Dome preserved as an events venue.
Proof of Concept: Global Events Return to Belgrade
Sava Centar’s rebirth is already delivering results. In May 2025, the venue hosted Heart Failure 2025, the European Society of Cardiology’s congress, welcoming more than 5,500 participants from over 100 countries. For four days, Belgrade became the epicentre of cardiovascular science — a clear validation of the centre’s scale, flexibility, and global competitiveness.
As Kristina Milinčić emphasises, this model sends a strong signal: convention centres need not be perpetual drains on public finances. When strategically integrated into their urban environment, they can spark multiplier effects — generating value across hospitality, retail, real estate, and city branding — while the corporate sector may also find opportunities to leverage potential business synergies and contribute to the transformation of both the city and society.
Trieste’s Porto Vivo: Anchoring Regeneration with Generali Convention Centre
Across the Adriatic, Trieste presents a different but equally compelling model. A historic port city with a deep scientific and multicultural legacy, Trieste is leveraging its knowledge economy and maritime identity to reinvent its waterfront.
The Generali Convention Centre, located within the Porto Vivo redevelopment (formerly Old Port), occupies two rehabilitated warehouses that anchor a broader regeneration of the old port. The convention facility spans about 5,000 m² of meeting/conference space plus a further 5,000 m² of exhibition zones, for a total footprint of approximately 10,000 m². The Generali Auditorium seats 1,920, supplemented by smaller rooms and multifunctional foyers.
Importantly, the entity is governed by a shareholder model, with Generali Group holding approximately 48%, illycaffè 13%, and multiple local investors the remainder. Through a recently signed naming agreement, Generali reinforces the centre’s brand and its role in the Porto Vivo redevelopment. This blend of private equity and civic alignment ensures financial sustainability while maintaining cultural and community engagement.
Trieste’s advantage lies in its intellectual density. The city hosts more than 30 research institutions — including the University of Trieste, SISSA, and the International Centre for Theoretical Physics — giving it one of Europe’s highest concentrations of researchers per capita. Events such as the Big Science Business Forum 2024 (BSBF), which brought together over 1,000 participants from the European research infrastructure community, underscore this scientific vocation.
From Roberto Morelli’s perspective, the centre is not simply a facility — it’s a strategic lever in repositioning Trieste’s urban frontier. By reinventing a derelict port zone, the convention complex amplifies value: attracting creative, scientific, hospitality, and residential uses into a formerly underutilised area. Its adjacency to innovation zones, start-up hubs, universities, and research institutions gives it an interlocking advantage.
Yet the balance is delicate: a financier’s mindset must coexist with a civic sensibility. The convention centre must remain open to cultural, academic, and local events, not only revenue-generating bookings. According to Morelli’s public remarks, the governance model is built to align commercial viability with urban identity.
Key Themes: Insights & Lessons for Cities and Investors
From these twin case studies, several strategic patterns and considerations emerge — lessons that may redefine the European convention landscape:
- The “Convention Centre as Urban Core” Model. In both cities, the venue isn’t an appendage; it’s the anchor around which the district is built.
- Private Capital Demands Vision. Investors engage when the project is embedded in a credible long-term plan, linked to real estate, hospitality, and infrastructure value chains.
- Mixed-Use Integration Mitigates Risk. Revenue from offices, hotels, and residences cushions the cyclical nature of the events business.
- Strong Stakeholder Alignment & Governance. Trieste’s shareholder model and Belgrade’s single-owner district demonstrate two viable governance structures that align commercial and civic interests.
- Urban Renewal & Place-Making Conditions. Zoning flexibility, infrastructure upgrades, and sustainable design incentives create the fertile ground such ventures need.
Beyond Belgrade and Trieste: Cities to Watch
Similar conversations are unfolding elsewhere. In Thessaloniki, the redevelopment of the iconic Helexpo exhibition complex is being overseen by Greece’s National Growth Fund. The challenge there — and in many comparable cities — lies in aligning public, private, and civic interests to create a sustainable, transformative project that benefits both the economy and society.
Recommendations: What City Leaders and Investors Should Note
- Begin with a vision, not with a venue. Embed the event facility within a broader urban or regeneration plan.
- Design hybrid funding structures. Combine anchor private investment with targeted public incentives (infrastructure, tax mechanisms, land-value capture).
- Ensure flexibility in design. Modular, future-proof spaces extend long-term viability.
- Embed sustainability and community legacy. Energy efficiency, green zones, and community access keep public trust intact.
- Engage cross-sector partners early. Universities, developers, and cultural institutions should co-own the vision.
- Plan for long horizons. True transformation unfolds over decades, not budget cycles.
Conclusion: Toward a New Convention Paradigm
The European convention model is at an inflection point. The traditional publicly funded, non-profit civic hall is no longer sustainable in many contexts. The cases of Belgrade and Trieste show how private capital, guided by a holistic urban vision, can deliver venues that are profitable, socially valuable, and architecturally transformative.
Rather than viewing convention infrastructure purely as a public good, cities and investors should now see it as a platform for urban transformation — where meetings, real estate, culture, and civic life converge. If designed and governed well, the convention centre of the future will not merely host events — it will shape skylines and shift perceptions of what a city can become.
View the full article in PDF here.
